"Even if a milion sacrificed to preserve the regime - let it be!"

IranPressNews.com

At an update meeting on 16 June 2009, Iran's spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, surprised his close bureau advisers and Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) representatives who were also present, with an unusual statement, after expressing serious concern about the recent developments on Iran's streets. To the amazement of some of those present, he said: "Even if a million Iranians would have to be sacrificed in order to preserve the Islamic Revolutions so be it!"

Since the election results became known and Iran's street flared up, there have been three official meetings a day in the Leader's bureau, in order to update, report, and present situation assessments, given the serious developments and the increasingly brutal steps the regime is taking to maintain its stability.

The meetings take place right after some of the daily prayer sessions and are attended by senior IRGC members (both from the IRGC army and from the Basij forces), senior officials from the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS), senior Guardians Council officials, the Leader's close personal advisers from his bureau (including his son - Mujtaba Khamenei), and a permanent representative of the religious leader Musbah Yazdi - Ahmadinejad's religious patron who supports the Hojatia (an approach that wishes to speed up Imam Mahdi's return by first creating chaos in the world).

Yazdi himself has participated in the deliberations at least once. At the meeting, which took place on the evening of 16 June 2009, Khamenei received a detailed update on the many riots that had spread throughout Iran and on how Iran's security forces were contending firmly with the rioting protesters. In response, Khamenei expressed his genuine hope that the situation would not deteriorate to a radical scenario, in which hundreds or even thousands of Iranian civilians would be injured or dead, out of fear from additional harm to the regimes legitimacy.

His deep concern resulted from being presented with several possible scenarios were presented to him, in which harsh repressive steps might be taken. In some of the scenarios, there were even assessments that putting down the rioting would bring about the detention of tens of thousands of protesters and the death of hundreds and perhaps thousands. The Leader's close advisers were taken by surprise when the Leader reacted by saying that he will not be deterred by the possibility that a million Iranian civilians would die in order to preserve the Islamic Revolution.

His close advisers concurred that the statement stemmed from the Leader's momentary distress and the stress caused by his realization that the situation was critical and that Iran's regime might topple. In order to prevent such a possibility, Khamenei repeated and emphasized "even a million". At this stage, it is not known which course Khamenei will take to remove the threat to the regime, which he defined as the "implementation of God's truth in the world."